NASA’S Opportunity Rover has been unresponsive for almost nine months now, as the Mars explorer has stopped sending signals back to agency crews on Earth. Will NASA crews pull the plug on the Opportunity rover?

A massive dust storm which engulfed the surface of Mars has knocked out the Opportunity Rover, according to NASA. The US-based space agency has been attempting to re-establish a connection with the remote-controlled robot, which has been up on the planet since 2011. Originally, it was being used to determine whether the surface of Mars would be able to support microbial life, providing clues as to whether it was once inhabited. Some 17 missions have landed on Mars to gather information and samples, and NASA is planning another three in the future.